Trump’s Claim that Muslims Celebrated in New Jersey the day of 9-11, True or False?

We all remember news coverage of Muslims in various parts of the world cheering the success of Al Qaeda in taking down the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11/2001. Trump told George Stephanopoulos that he say Muslims cheering in New Jersey as they watched the towers burning across the waters. Stephanopoulos said that Trump was incorrect and that police refuted this claim.

The Washington Post ran a feature by Serge F. Kovaleski and Fredrick Kunkle on September 18th, 2001. In that article, they stated:

“In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners’ plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.” (emphasis is mine)

Not sure how many “a number of” equates to but this article, by a very liberal newspaper, at least backs up Trump’s claim that there were Muslims cheering on the attack and at least law enforcement if not the police that Stephanopoulos referred to. There is no way to refute or confirm Trump’s claim that he saw the cheering with his own eyes. But, it is not difficult to imagine that the incident took place as Trump described.